To Infinity And Beyond!

I remember how at the first congress in Sitrin, on Passover in 2003, we naively shouted that we would break through the Machsom (the barrier separating us from the spiritual world). 17 years have passed since then, and I think that finally the time has come to really demand the boundary of the upper world to open before us and let us pass through the sea as if by land. I think we are ready, along with all our friends around the world. If we all feel we are in the same boat, we can feel ourselves standing on the other side of the river of life.

Let friends from all over the world come together, joining us physically or virtually, and together we will break through the Machsom. L’Chaim!¹
From the Talk at a meal, 2/1/20
1 Minute 23:30

Connection Tool: Dissemination

Question: One of the means for connection is joint work on dissemination. At least in the recent period, all Kabbalists wrote that the wisdom of Kabbalah needed to be spread to humanity. Does this joint work also build the group?

Answer: Yes. This work has been carried out for several hundred years. However, from the twentieth century onward, and even more so in our time, it is clear to everyone that Kabbalah must give humanity a program for its correct development. Otherwise, humanity will again come to nuclear war, to huge defeat, shattering, and self-destruction.

Therefore, taking care to pass this information to other people, to the world, we release newspapers, publish books, make films and video clips. This joint work brings us closer together.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/11/19

“Unlocking The Ancient Book Of Zohar To Understand Today’s Anti-Semitism” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Unlocking the Ancient Book of Zohar to Understand Today’s Anti-Semitism”

Certain things do not vanish over time. They just change their shape, motion and means to penetrate people’s minds. Prejudice against Jews is one of those cases. With the surge in new means of communication, prejudice has also adopted new ways to spread. But actual answers to the eternal dilemma of how to eradicate anti-Semitism will be found by looking back to ancient scriptures.

The light of The Zohar is like a gate to a truer reality that is currently hidden from our view. Let’s look at anti-Semitism afresh in this new light that The Zohar sheds.

If 200 years ago, you would have arrived at some forsaken Siberian village, and declared that you were Jewish, the locals would have reacted in astonishment, “We do not believe you!” And if you were to ask why, they would have answered, “It’s because you have no horns on your head.” As primitive as that sounds, blood libels against Jews and grotesque images of greedy merchants with hooked noses are still prevalent in social media and cultural manifestations in American and European societies to this day.

Furthermore, belief in the myth that Jews killed Jesus and the misconception of Jewish double-loyalty continues with disturbing frequency. Anti-Semitism stands as ugly and forceful as ever. It has always existed, and the question is only to what extent it floats to the surface or remains submerged.

It should be declared straightaway: the struggle against anti-Semitic stereotypes will be fruitless. The hatred toward the Jewish people will only strengthen because it has spiritual roots.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the source of this phenomenon exists within the structure of the spiritual world itself, which is divided into what Kabbalah terms “Rosh” (“head”) and “Guf” (“body”), i.e., “Israel” and the” nations of the world.” This allegorical thought is also sometimes expressed as the “heart” and the “bodily organs” that dangle and manifest themselves in our material world.

According to the seminal ancient book in Kabbalah, The Book of Zohar, which explains the secrets of the Torah: “Israel is the heart of the whole world, just as the organs of the body could not exist in the world even for a moment without the heart, so all the nations cannot exist in the world without Israel.”

Just as the role of the heart in the human body is to provide the power to pump blood to all the organs, so the role of Israel is to provide humanity with the power to connect, to supply spiritual abundance to the nations of the world. In other words, Israel is to be “light unto the nations.”

The people of Israel and the nations of the world are not merely groupings of people on the face of the earth. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the terms refer to the two forces that act within each and every person, forces that are called “Israel” and “the nations of the world.”

The desires within us that are sensitive to the force of connection among people are called “Israel,” and the opposite desires we possess that demand to receive and enjoy the abundance that flows from such connection without consideration of others are called “nations of the world.” Both forces reside and interact within a person and within humanity as a whole. When one force rises, the other falls, and vice versa. Thus, the flames of hatred toward the Jewish people can be lowered, or alternatively, strengthened according to the balance between these desires.

How can we reinforce the “Israel” within us over the “nations of the world”? How can we increase our sensitivity toward connection over our other desires for self-indulgence at the expense of others?

We can achieve it through the study of Kabbalah—the method of connection—and particularly, The Book of Zohar. The Zohar has a great positive influence on us even if we are unable to grasp its full dimensions and benefit. Our sages elucidated the process as follows:

“To explain how The Zohar purifies the soul even when the reader doesn’t understand what he says, we have the example of he who enters a perfume store, even if he doesn’t buy any perfume, when he leaves the store, he has the smell attached to him.” (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sadilkov)

The light of The Zohar is like a gate to the true reality that at present is hidden from our senses. It has tremendous power, but for us to be able to use its force of revelation efficiently, we need to read the stories narrated in The Zohar as a practical guide to discover a deeper reality through unity beyond the boundaries of the material world.

How does this process work?

When we aspire for unity, we awaken the force of connection among us, and sharpen our sensitivity to positive relations between us based on rapport, elevating “Israel” within us and bestowing abundance to the world. In such a state, no one in the world would deal anymore with anti-Semitic depictions or prejudice against Jews, but instead with the warm and considerate heart that should depict the Jewish people and its great contribution to the world’s betterment.

A Prayer Is A Force

There will be several thousand people at the upcoming World Kabbalah Convention in Israel. This is a massive force. Tens of thousands of people all over the world will also be following us on the Internet. This is a powerful gathering of common work and progress, where we can make another step forward. We can raise MAN, and reveal the Creator within our connection.

Every person has to collect all the people who have gathered at the convention at the same time, all of their desires and aspirations, the prayers of both men and women, and raise them to the Creator. I ask for their correction, for all these desires to become corrected, i.e., for the sake of bringing contentment to the Creator. Each of us who forms such a prayer is a force. There is nothing like that in the world. If we do everything right, without a doubt we can earn the first spiritual degree. This is our preparation for the convention.

How do I collect the desires of my friends? I want them to be inside my heart, so that I feel responsible for them. I must say that the world exists for my sake, for me to correct it. Everyone must say so.

I want to take the desires of my friends and elevate them to the Creator. My only contribution to this is that I connect them and place them inside my intention to bestow to Him. The created beings need the Creator’s help, and I also want to help them by passing the Creator’s help to them through me.²

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”
²

Love The Spiritual Point In The Other’s Heart

Question: Should I imagine the point in the heart of a woman whom I cannot stand in my ten? I cannot find another way to justify the fact that she is the exact opposite of me. The fact that I depict a point in her heart is the only thing I can think of to get out of a state of rejection.

Answer: You said it remarkably: “I hate everything in her, except for one point in the heart. And I love the spiritual point in her heart.”

So imagine that you are against this point, and everything else does not matter. This is the most important thing we need to do.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/29/19

Love Can Be Different

Question: If people maintain friendly relations after a divorce, then love did not bind them?

Answer: It is possible that love connected them. After all, love can be different.

If I respect another person, I feel attracted to him, but this is not enough to love him; I can still be faithful to him, understand, respect, and help him.

But to love is a completely different state. Love is not a state of reciprocity.

“I give you and you give me” is called a friendly state. And love is when it is not “I give you and you give me,” but rather, “I give you,” and that is all.

Perhaps two people meet, get together, and it seems to them that it is love, but in reality, it is nothing more than friendship. It can end at a purely physiological level, or at a level where people help each other, and so on. But this is not love.

Love is when you experience contentment from filling another person without any response whatsoever.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/15/2019

New Life #23 – Choosing A Suitable Partner

New Life #23 – Choosing a Suitable Partner
Dr. Michael Laitman gives a new perspective on relationships

A couple is created when two people become one system that is based on giving and mutual acceptance. Like animal pairs, couples used to be close to nature and felt one another instinctively. Now, we compete with others in society and feel pressure and internal conflict when choosing a partner. In order to rediscover the inner map that guides each of us, we need to engage in preparatory relationship courses. These courses will teach us about the natural desire to enjoy and its constant development. This new education will show us how to transcend the human ego and discover, through our partners, a spring of life that fulfills us in a way that nothing else can.
From KabTV’s “New Life #23 – Choosing a Suitable Partner,” 6/27/12

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

African Unity—The Key To Their Real Freedom

Egypt, the land of slavery for the people of Israel, is located in Africa. Africa is the birthplace of Pharaoh, global egoism. 400 years of Egyptian exile enabled the people of Israel to receive the Torah and to reveal the Creator. Therefore, all the nations that developed in Africa and became enslaved no longer to Pharaoh, like the Jews, but to the European nations in America, are more prepared for the correction of the soul. I hope that soon we will see that people in Africa are more receptive to the method of Kabbalah.¹

The whole of humanity needs the science of Kabbalah in order to reveal the upper force. Thus, all of human development has been accompanied by problems, disasters, plagues, and wars all in order to force a person to think about the meaning of his life—what are we living for? Humanity could find no answer to this question until the science of Kabbalah became revealed and provides the answer that the moment we attain the upper force which controls our whole life, we realize what we live for and what the essence of our life is.

The question is how to reveal this single upper force that governs the universe. We have no means of changing our lives except with the help of the upper force. The moment we reveal the upper force, we receive the answers to our questions. This is the uniqueness of the science of Kabbalah, the method of revealing the upper force, which gives the answers to everything.²

The consequences of European colonization are still felt in Europe. Slavery has been long abolished, but European countries still try to use the natural and human resources in Africa and ignite conflicts there by selling them weapons and facilitating emigration. This is a difficult issue for Africa, but I feel that Africans will eventually understand that only through unity of all can they achieve the upper force. Then they will feel free rather than oppressed as they do to this day.

This solution for Africa can only come from the science of Kabbalah and nothing else. The genuine freedom of Africa is impossible without the sensation of spiritual freedom. After all, the African nations have always had financial independence, but European and other countries from all over the world have always meddled in their lives. Nothing will help until the Africans feel genuine, spiritual freedom.

They will then have the power to resist those who are trying to influence them, and will be able to feel inner freedom not just from the Europeans, but from all external powers, from philosophies foreign to Africa.

It is impossible to achieve freedom before establishing connection with the Creator. Until then, it will only be imaginary, material freedom. We can call the African nations free even now since there are no slaves there, but they are still being exploited, used in all sorts of ways. It happens all over the world as each country wants to use the other and squeeze all the natural resources out of it.

In this regard, African countries are no different from other states. Anyone who wants to become independent nowadays must reach closer, correct connection with the Creator. Freedom in the upper world will bring us freedom in this world because this is not just spiritual, forces are projected down upon us allowing us to stand up against everyone. Then, nobody will be able to hurt us.

It is enough to look at the people of Israel and their path. Various nations tried to oppress and destroy them throughout history from Pharaoh onward. But no one succeeded in ruling over the people of Israel, not Pharaoh, the German Nazis, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian Tzar, etc. This is because Jews have a connection with the upper force. I advise the same for the African nations: to receive the same support from above and then nobody will be able to harm them.

There are many different religions in Africa, but the science of Kabbalah contradicts none of them; it only explains how to achieve connection with the upper force, which is above all faiths and religions, through unity. Such unity, which existed a long time ago among the people of Israel, kept the nation together to this day and disallowed their becoming slaves to any nation.³
From the African Virtual Congress 1/18/20, The Importance of Society, Lesson 1

Change Hatred To Love

Question: Where is the place for prayer when we transition from love to hatred and from hatred to love?

Answer: Now it seems to you that it is very simple to be in the state of love or hatred and to transition from one to the other. In reality, you will discover that you cannot do that.

Imagine that you do not love someone, even hate and reject him. Now try to change your state to the opposite one. Can you do it? No, you cannot.

However, you do want it, and you need to change yourself. You understand that this hatred that you have pushes you away from spirituality and you cannot begin feeling the upper world. What can you do? Then you begin to ask to change your hatred to love.

How is it possible? You should not worry about it. A small ray of light is sent to you from above and you become a different person—young, beautiful, loving, and loved. Everything blossoms. This is the prayer.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/29/19

The Purpose Of The Struggle Of Opposites

Question: The struggle of opposites takes place for the sake of struggle, or should truth always be born in it?

Answer: The struggle of opposites is necessary in order to reach the middle line between them. It will be the line of truth.

Question: Is the opposite the absence of what exists?

Answer: It depends on what we are talking about. If you mean people, then I need them in order to get to know myself by looking at them.
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From Kab TV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah.”12/15/19

The Purpose Of A Kabbalistic Group, Part 12

From a Variety of Methods, Choose One

Question: According to the Kabbalistic principle, in a group it is recommended to talk about spiritual terms from the primary sources. For example, if we read Talmud Eser Sefirot or The Book of Zohar, can we use terms from these texts to communicate with each other?

Answer: Yes, it is not prohibited.

Comment: There is also another principle. It is important to ignore other spiritual practices and techniques while studying Kabbalah.

My Response: Naturally. In order to attain a certain technique, you must delve into it. You should not make a salad of all kinds of methods and approaches. And there are lots of them.

There are eastern and western teachings, and scientific and psychological ones, and there are the teachings of Baal HaSulam and Rav Kook. The methods of Vilna Gaon and Baal Shem Tov have long been known, and so on. That is, there are a great variety of paths to the Creator. Therefore, in order to succeed, you need to deal solely with one branch.

Because I found my teacher and I was Rabash’s student and assistant for the last 12 years of his life, I follow this principle and try to adhere to it.

Rabash was the eldest son of Baal HaSulam, so we study the materials of Baal HaSulam and try to implement them as much as possible. Baal HaSulam wrote that we belong to the generation when Kabbalah must open to the world and appeal not only to the people of Israel, but also to the nations of the world. This is the way we act.

Question: For whom did your teacher write articles about the principles of working in a group?

Answer: He wrote them for his students and for those who would come after them in the next generation.

Baal HaSulam and Rabash did what the Ari and Baal Shem Tov did in their time. The Ari developed the wisdom of Kabbalah, and Baal Shem Tov developed practical Kabbalah.

Baal HaSulam did the same, paying attention mainly to the wisdom of Kabbalah and describing it according to the Ari. Rabash continued to develop practical Kabbalah. I cannot imagine what else can be done after them, that is, where there is room in Kabbalah to enter and add something.

Numerous written books only dilute the wisdom of Kabbalah. I do not think it is necessary. What remains for us is, perhaps, to adapt their works for beginners, translate them into other languages, and bring the method of correcting the world closer to the nations.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/6/19

Help The World: Unite

Humanity is one big vessel, one soul, called Adam HaRishon. In order to be corrected, this vessel is split into two: Israel and the nations of the world. We cannot correct it all at once because there are some very deep layers that the light cannot reach right away.

All corrections start with the easier ones, progressing toward more difficult ones. Thus, the first to be corrected are the upper, lighter layers, as it is said about Israel that it is “small among the nations,” meaning that it has the lightest type of desire to enjoy. And in the nations of the world the desire is much heavier, which will appear when they start to awaken.

Each person that receives the awakening toward spirituality in our days is a part of the common soul called Israel (Yashar Kel), straight to the Creator. They must hurry with their correction because their main work consists of helping the other desires, the nations of the world.

Israel channels the light that reforms through itself, through its unity. Then the nations of the world awaken and begin their corrections, demanding more light from Israel until everyone unites into one soul, as it is written: “My house will be called the house of prayer for all nations.” Israel must correct itself in order to correct the whole of humanity.¹

The people of ancient Babylon were called the “generation of discord.” This was the time when the common soul of Adam HaRishon was split into two: Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) and Awzen Hotem Peh (AHP), into the head and the body of the desire, into Israel and the nations of the world. Babylonian society was divided into these two camps.

It is said that this was the generation that started humanity’s decline. Before that time, the egoistic desire, which needed correction, did not exist. Beginning with it, the part called Israel has an obligation to correct its egoistic desire into an altruistic one.

This was the generation of Abraham. Abraham is the force that divided humanity into two parts with the appeal: “Who is for the Creator—come join me!” And “Love will cover all crimes.”

Before that, the desire to enjoy was so small in people that all Babylonians intuitively felt what the correct behavior should be and naturally followed it. They spoke the same language and lived as one family.

But by the time of Abraham, the desire to enjoy grew, and they broke their old idols not knowing what to do about their egoism. It is said that Abraham defeated the idols, but in fact, it was an entire process taking place with all the people. They did not know how to keep on living, so part of the nation followed Nimrod with his egoistic method of correction, calling them to fulfill the American dream. And the other part followed Abraham, who called for them to become Israel, to aspire to the Creator.

To worship the Creator means to follow the force of connection. All commandments aim us at connection within the tens in order to become as a ten to one union, one group, one understanding. This is the essence, the meaning, and the purpose of commandments because we need to correct the broken vessel.²

From Adam to Abraham, humanity kept developing and its desire to enjoy grew. Inside a person, who was still an animal, human qualities began to emerge, i.e., egoism. He started separating himself from the rest of the people: his wife, children, his own house, possessions, work, property, trade.

Everyone felt more and more distanced from others until it came to the point that they began fighting among each other and believing in different idols, i.e., different forces. An idol is not just a mere statue that one bows down to; there is a deep internal philosophy that stands behind it. It is active in people to this day and we see that the world still has a great separation between all religions, each one worshiping its own symbol. This entire breakage began in ancient Babylon.

The desire to enjoy keeps growing step by step, causing certain consequences: Shoresh de Shoresh, Alef de Shoresh, Bet de Shoresh, Gimel de Shoresh, Dalet de Shoresh (0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0). The development on level zero has come to an end and level 1 has begun: 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, etc. So, the desire kept on growing until Galgalta ve Eynaim stopped developing and Abraham appeared as its consequence.

Abraham is the connection of Bina and Malchut. Thus, he can be the father to the nation, meaning to give Malchut the quality of Bina. Therefore, Abraham breaks the idols showing that it is Bina, the quality of bestowal, that should be worshiped instead of Malchut, reception. Bestowal becomes our God, and this is the whole difference between Abraham and Nimrod.

This was is ideological. There are only ten Sefirot, Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP, the relationship between the broken vessels and the work toward correction.³

Abraham was the first man who created the link between Bina and Malchut. He raised his Malchut to Bina in 40 years during which he started to attain the Creator, the quality of bestowal, Bina. This is how he created his methodology and started teaching it to others.⁴

It is said that “the world stands on three pillars: the Torah, spiritual work, and kindness.” The order is: Abraham—Isaac—Jacob. Abraham is Chesed, kindness, the light of Hassadim. This is the light that reforms, our preparation for work. The work is Isaac, Gevura, strength. Through this work we come to Jacob—Torah, Tifferet. This is the process we must go through.

The light comes, we work on our connection and reveal the Creator within our unity.

The “three pillars that the world stands on” are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham is Chesed, a man of kindness who exerted efforts in bringing people to kindness. Isaac is the pillar of work who put himself on the “sacrificial altar”; meaning, he sacrificed himself for the work, strength. The sacrificial altar refers to our desire to enjoy that we keep working on as we sacrifice it, wanting to change it to the desire to bestow.

Jacob is called “the man of the Torah.” Torah is the middle line that we arrive at through hard work on our egoism, with the force of Abraham, meaning, due to the work of Isaac, strength (overcoming). All the sufferings of Jacob represent the struggle with the evil inclination.

The order of the work:

1. We receive the force from above called Abraham.
2. We work hard on our desire to enjoy this force in order to organize it correctly—this is called the work of Isaac.
3. We then arrive at the middle line, the connection between the quality of the light, the intention to bestow, the quality of the desire, and they all merge into the middle line called Jacob.⁵

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/20,” Israel’s Duty Toward Humanity”

What Are Transgressions According To Kabbalah?

Question: Kabbalah says that we should not be ashamed of our desires and properties. Then what are transgressions in Kabbalah?

Answer: Any evil action in relation to other people and even inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, any egoistic action in relation to the world around us is a transgression. It is a lot worse than a transgression in relation to the Creator.

A person needs to be careful not to cause any harm even to the surrounding nature. He must see everything around him as a manifestation of the Creator.

Therefore, one must treat inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature as well as people equally with absolute kindness. The Creator will perceive this as an attitude toward Him. This attitude in no way can be other than a person’s attitude to the surrounding world.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/1/19

Leave The Security Of The Known, Egoism, And Discover Perfection, Bestowal

The personal desire of each one is very small, he is able to enjoy only the pleasures of this world. If one acquires the desires of the Creator, that is, the intention for the sake of bestowal, one gains unlimited desire, a spiritual vessel, and to its extent enjoys not receiving, but bestowal. One is no longer in isolation, in the grip of temporary, random, personal sensations, but in a sense of eternal, perfect and infinite fulfillment.

This is the difference between selfish desires and altruistic desires. In fact, the purpose of creation is to delight the created. We should enjoy it, but in such a way that the Creator can give us unlimited fulfillment; that is, we would not limit ourselves. Therefore, we need a desire that is outside of creation without any boundaries. And this can only be with bestowal.

It scares us that we supposedly break away from our “I” and lose ourselves, falling into slavery to the upper force. But this is not at all true. On the contrary, we exchange a tiny, temporary, random, limited desire for a perfect, eternal and unlimited one. That is the whole difference. But for this it is necessary to overcome the psychological barrier: It is my desire. And I grab onto it like a baby onto an old teddy bear. He cannot let go of it, although the whole world is offered to him in return: go, enjoy, and open new horizons. No, he only wants this bear, clutching it to himself, because it is “mine.”

So we disagree with parting from our petty egoism, although it gives us only trouble. In fact, these problems are a help to us, a call from the Creator to exit egoism. But no matter how hard we try to get the toy out of the hands of the child, he does not let it go.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is trying to explain to us that it is worth leaving your egoism and starting to work in a group. However, we have great difficulty accepting these explanations. We are tightly closed, limited, and unable to think just above this selfish border, above our old bear. We cling to it and it seems to us that our whole life is enclosed in it.

Only the group, only the light that reforms can help and change something here. Therefore, the Creator, in preparation, breaks up the common soul and says: “May one help one’s neighbor.” I cannot help myself, I am not able to fight my egoism, but I can help my friends. And so it is for each of us.

Everyone in the ten thinks about the others, and thanks to this we have the opportunity to let this bear go, open our hands, and in return, enter another world, another reality. The Creator has done great preparation to give us this lucky opportunity. We need only listen to the Kabbalists’ advice. We are at a critical point today, and we can realize this transition if only we seriously think about it and don’t miss the chance given to us.¹
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/28/20, “Bestow Contentment to the Creator”
¹ Minute 04:00

“From Generation Screen To Generation Connection” (KabNet)

KabNet published my new article: “From Generation Screen to Generation Connection”

A lot of criticism has been raised about the younger generation trapped in virtual space day and night behind computer screens and mobile devices. Various detractors say that this is a lifeless generation lacking proper brain development, communication skills, imagination, and that they have sunk into themselves, buried between rows of words and myriad images. “Generation Screen,” however, is more adept than any previous generation at discerning the deadly disease of persistent self-centeredness festering within our world.

As the accurate diagnosis of a disease in its early stages gives us a great advantage to heal it, so “Generation Screen” brings forth the gift of “the recognition of evil,” i.e., the awareness of the destructive nature of the human ego — the desire to enjoy at the expense of others — residing within each of us as being the source of all our problems. Without such a realization, we cannot expect any positive forward progress, any healing of our disease.

“In an atmosphere of friendliness, warmth, sympathy and support for one another, we can build positive connections above our egoistic impulses in a spirit of open discussion.”

However, where our screen generation can reach a significant recognition of evil, the solution to the problem cannot be done through the same screens magnifying the problem. Books, too, although known to work more positively on brain development, improving linguistic, writing, imagination, listening and learning abilities, originally emerged as a disruption that spoiled a more natural word-of-mouth conveyance of wisdom from teacher to student.

In the distant past, teachers of wisdom sat on hills and under trees, surrounded by circles of students, and would deliver words of wisdom, teaching through conversation and interaction. We can thus learn from past conversational learning formats in order to approach a solution to our current problems.

In an atmosphere of friendliness, warmth, sympathy and support for one another, we can build positive connections above our egoistic impulses in a spirit of open discussion. In other words, when we acknowledge how our technological, scientific and cultural progress has been paralleled with a decline in the quality of our connections, then we can pair the desperate need for healing our connections with the method of connection, which was perfected in the educational methods of our sages, in order to find the cure to our current state.

When wisdom needed to be conveyed by word of mouth, our learning required attentive listening in order to understand what was being discussed, and in order to internalize and add the material to our memory reserve. Students would listen, ask questions and converse in order to gain knowledge and wisdom. In their circles, they would absorb the spirit of the material being taught. Through a conversational and social approach, students would connect among each other and with their teachers face to face.

Therefore, our challenge to correct the evil inherent in human nature today is to learn how to positively connect above our divisive drives. At the center of our discourse should be the understanding of such a need, and the impetus to balance ourselves with the law of nature that moves everyone and everything toward more and more unified states.

Our conversations would then gradually advance us in understanding and feeling a more powerful desire to positively connect with much greater mental and emotional aptitude. Our brains would then develop alongside our more developed hearts, as we would gain access to the ultimate unifying device for dealing with any problem and form of division that would appear between us.
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Spiritual Holidays, Part 1

Holidays Are Recurring States

Question: Special dates that Kabbalists celebrate can be called “holidays” or “traditions,” but they all carry special spiritual information. Some of them exist as historical events, some are simply described in the Kabbalistic sources.

The word “Holiday” itself is “חג” – “Chag” in Hebrew. What does it mean?

Answer: “Chag” is from the word “Mehuga” (returning arrow). That is, these are recurring events that represent spiritual states of any person who wants to advance in spirituality.

Spiritual space is above our world and exists on its own. These people who attain spiritual qualities and forces become included in this space and feel themselves in certain spiritual states.

These states are called Chag, Mehuga, that is recurring, returning states. They initially come from the structure of the system of the upper world, and as it descended, they manifest in our world.

The first state is Rosh Hashanah (New Year). This date represents the creation of a person and therefore, we celebrate it. The world was created five days before that but we do not celebrate this. We are interested in the New Year when the system of Adam was created.

This is not a person in our world but a spiritual system that controls us. Before it, the system was formed that controls inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature. On the sixth day of creation, meaning on the sixth degree, the system called Adam appeared.

Question: Does it mean that Adam is a program that controls all of our reality?

Answer: There is a program that controls us and inside it there are subprograms. One of them, the most central one is called Adam (human).
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

Sensing Creatures

Question: What is the “mercy of the Creator” in Kabbalah?

Answer: Leave all the epithets like “The Creator is good,” “The One Who does good,” “mercy,” “love,” “hatred,” and so on for novels even though they are used in the Kabbalistic books.

We just need to understand that we cannot express our impressions in any other way. By saying that this is wet, this is hot, this is cold, pleasant, unpleasant, and so on, we express ourselves in this way.

In principle, we all are emotional creatures. Although it seems to us that we act with reason, in fact, it is never the case. We always feel and measure our sensations. Even when I say “five meters” or “500 thousand kilometers,” I still emotionally measure these distances. Where we have no feelings, there are no dimensions, no science, and no concepts.

We cannot act absolutely rigidly, without feelings, in a system of measurement. This is how we are arranged because our essence is the desire to enjoy. We can even measure ourselves in relation to this desire—whether we feel greater pleasure or smaller pleasure.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/22/19

We Wear Clothes To Cover The Shame Of Being Egoists

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/10/20

Over the generations, clothes have been a definitive mark of a person’s economic and social status. However, recent times show a striking change. All around the world, wealthy and publicly respected people no longer follow the old standard dress code.

Today, a plain t-shirt, jeans and sports shoes can be the attire of the rich and poor alike. Society has undergone emancipation from noticeable expressions of wealth and rank in dress with a recent move toward a “simpler is better” approach.

In the first decades of the 20th century, men still flaunted well-tailored suits, dress shirts with cufflinks, and elegant hats on their heads. Women, already exempt from corsets, wore colorful long dresses with matching accessories head to toe. Designers still offer new fashions four times a year, but our search for personal expression has turned elsewhere.

Time passed and desires changed.

Although largely unaware of where our loss of interest in clothing comes from, today’s younger generation emphasizes personal character and their inner world over the rags that cover it.

This is the call of the time: We have reached the point where the person must precede the clothing.

There is an old saying, “Don’t let your clothes wear you,” i.e., the outer covering should never be more important than the inner person. The time has come to uncover exactly what we have been hiding underneath the stylish outer wrappings.

What have we been trying to cover up? What are we longing to find? Could it be that we have been covering some kind of shame?

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, which explains phenomena in our reality as branches of spiritual roots, there is a connection between physical clothing and shame.

We instinctively wear clothes in order to cover the shame of our egoistic nature.

We hide the fact that we host a human nature that wants only to enjoy itself at the expense of everyone and everything else. Essentially, we use clothing in order to conceal our selfishness.

As the Torah teaches, after the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, the Creator told Adam that he needed to be clothed. This means that the person’s egoistic desire undergoes a correction, becoming covered with an opposite intention of love and bestowal.

When we put on this “spiritual apparel” of a common intention to love, bestow and positively connect with each other above the naked and divisive ego, and create a supportive social environment that promotes altruistic spiritual values to us, we then attain the spiritual state called “love will cover all transgressions.”

Then, we dress up in the image of the Creator.

“The Meaning Of Tu BiShvat” (Kabbalah.info)

My new article: “The Meaning Of Tu BiShvat”:

Tu BiShvat, which takes place on the 15th of Shevat, seems to be a Jewish holiday of lesser significance, as if hidden among the distinctive Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Purim, Passover and Shavuot. Its customs are simplistic and few: eating dried fruit and drinking some wine while the children plant tree seeds.

However, according to its inner meaning, the holiday of Tu BiShvat holds monumental importance among the Jewish holidays, as it discusses a very important discernment on our path to a harmonious reality: the discernment of needing to choose an environment, plant ourselves in it, invest in it, and care for the means that can grow us to become more and more optimally connected.

In our current times, as we plod on in the midst of heated social division, terror and nuclear weapon anxiety, the reawakening of Nazi, fascist and xenophobic tendencies, as well as increasing depression, stress and loneliness, the holiday of Tu BiShvat comes to remind us of nature’s positive power. The seed we plant in the soil symbolizes the great potential that dwells in our connections.

This seed will germinate and grow into a life-giving tree, which will later bear fruit. For example, a feeling of safety and confidence in the streets, the reduction of economic inequality and disparity, a healthcare system that concerns itself with all people, and the education of connection-enriching values. The wisdom of Kabbalah, the teaching of how to draw nature’s force of positive connection into our relations, is the water. When we let the spirit of positive connection, “the water,” flow between us, it serves to lubricate our connections, vitalizing them with nature’s positive, connective force.

Investing in rich, fertile soil can be likened to building an environment that will value nature’s quality of love, bestowal and connection above any other values. That is Tu BiShvat’s universal message. It is also the reason why Kabbalists have always regarded the holiday with utmost importance. As the Torah compares humanity to a “tree of the field,” Tu BiShvat, also called “the New Year of the trees,” is an invitation to the beginning of growth, the beginning of a new life.

“The person is called a tree of the field, and Rosh HaShanah is the time of judgment, for better or for worse. … It is written, ‘Forever is mercy built’ (Psalms 89:3). So on Tu BiShvat, which is called the New Year for Trees, we must be strengthened with the quality of kindness, because for this we merit fruit, which is called ‘a tree bearing fruit.””

– Rabbi Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, Dargot HaSulam, “The New Year of the Trees.”

Happy holiday!

Spritual Meaning of Tu Bishvat

Tu Bishvat, “The New Year of the Trees,” symbolizes the fruit of the spiritual work, growth.

In the first stage of our spiritual path we invert the egoistic intention (Lo Lishma) into an altruistic intention (Lishma), bestowing in order to bestow. In Kabbalah, this degree is called “the quality of Bina.” The acquisition of this quality makes us a “tree of the field.”

Our next milestone of spiritual progress is receiving in order to bestow. Here, the barren tree of the field starts bearing fruit. This is a result of our work and our degree.

We now use our “tree” to grow fruit, fulfill the desires of others, and we relate to them as the source of bestowal. This way, we equalize with the quality of bestowal and complete our correction. This way, Tu BiShvat also contains the completion of our spiritual work.

Tu BiShvat might appear to be a trivial holiday. Its customs don’t extend beyond eating fruits, drinking some wine and children planting tree seeds in the ground. However, it is a very important holiday, since it represents the outcome of spiritual work, the fruit of our efforts. Out of nature’s four levels—still, vegetative, animate, speaking—Tu BiShvat represents the correction of the vegetative level.

The Meaning of New Year for Trees

The New Year of the Trees marks their awakening to life, symbolizing the awakening of a person to achieve the purpose of life: equivalence with nature’s quality of love, bestowal and connection.

The Meaning of A Man Is Like a Tree in the Field

A tree has a special internal structure that feeds from the ground and stretches upward toward the sun. The most important part of the tree is its fruit. In general, any plant, everything that grows from the earth, feeds us and is the basis of our material life. Our spiritual development functions according to the principle that we operate as a tree through all kinds of actions we do.

The Meaning of Fruits

Fruits represent attaining our purpose in life, which is to harmonize with nature’s quality of love, bestowal and connection. In principle, everyone would want to attain this goal if they understood how sweet that fruit is: an eternal and perfect existence in absolute attainment without any restrictions and problems.

Whether we want it or not, we nevertheless get closer to it. However, Kabbalah can accelerate our path if we use it correctly. Otherwise we’ll have to advance the way we do now, with the help of unpleasant blows from nature that push us forward.

There is a beautiful future ahead of us and I hope that the same sweetness we feel from the good fruits of the earth and plants, we will feel from fulfilling our soul.

Further Reading On Tu Bishvat
Posts in Dr. Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog

• New Life #677 – The Meaning Of Tu Bishvat
• The Fruit Of The Tree Of Knowledge
• Introductory Lecture “Tu B’Shevat” – 01.18.11 – video, audio
• Milestones On The Way
• The Meaning Of The Tu B’Shevat Holiday
• New Life #193 – The Jewish Holidays
• Tu B’Shevat As A Turning Point In Providence

Material on Hanukkah and the Jewish holidays by the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute

• The Meaning of the Jewish Holidays – chapter from the book, The Path of Kabbalah
• The Spiritual Meaning of the Jewish Holidays – app for Android, iPhone and iPad

The Meaning of the Jewish Holidays Series

• The Meaning of Rosh Hashanah
• The Meaning of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement)
• The Meaning of Sukkot
• The Meaning of Simchat Torah
• The Meaning of Hanukkah
• The Meaning of Tu BiShvat
• The Meaning of Purim
• The Meaning of Passover
• The Meaning of Shavuot